There have been a series of threads about the recent net attacks. Here is a Cryptome article basically making the case that those attacks were no accident.

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For what it is worth, I am a 20-year veteran of the computer security community. I have served in the Navy, National Security Agency, State Department, Computer Sciences Corporation, RCA, and have consulted on computer security with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, international banks, telecom companies and even firms that manufacture candy.

While working for the FBI and Naval Investigative Service, I put one US Navy official in Federal prison for espionage and other crimes, and I was involved in U.S. counter-terrorism work in Greece and the Philippines. I think I know how the "spook" community operates and, more importantly, how it thinks.

The hype associated with the recent Internet flooding is outrageous and serves the agendas of the military and intelligence communities regarding new vistas for bloated Pentagon and espionage budgets.

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"Hackers, media hype article in cryptome"

Reactions? Anyone know anything about this author?

-- redeye in ohio (not@work.com), February 18, 2000

Answers

---the only comment I have is that it jives with my pet theory that the majority of the "attacks" were strawmen created to bolster more police state activites. the net scares the used food out of 'governments" everywhere, because they are currently almost powerless to control the free flow of information, information it and they have heretofore been able to manipulate and massage. there might be some attacks by random rogue hackers, but I'm guessing it was orchestrated as well. the timing with the prez's state of disunuion speech were he wanted more cyber cops, then a similar parroting by barbecue janet, was too coincidental to the attack time frame.

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), February 18, 2000.

You immediately have to question the guy's bonafides since he claims to have worked for the FBI, NIS, NSA, and the rest of that alphabet soup. Just doesn't sound very realistic to me...

-- dirtscratcher (still farmin@inthecountry.com), February 18, 2000.

Wayne Madsen is well-known by those who follow intelligence affairs as an ex-NSA who is a critic of the intelligence agencies based on insider experience. He's working with James Bamford on an update of "The Puzzle Palace," probably the best book on the NSA. He writes regularly on computer security, with a February report in "Computer Fraud and Security Bulletin" excerpted at:

http://cryptome.org/mil-hack.htm

This article is about a Senate hearing in October 1999 during which a proposal was discussed to have military security teams attack US commercial sites to demonstrate weak security and raise public awareness of the need for, what else, more cyber security funding -- a plan that fits the recent "hacker attack."

-- john young (jy@cryptome.org), February 18, 2000.

Redeye, yet more grist for the mill...Good catch.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 19, 2000.